Thanks for introducing me to the 'grown up' world of app development reminding me to 'stop whining' about design.<p>There's a big difference between being aware of good design principles and being competent enough to start making changes on your own.<p>Studying bootstrap and reading a book won't earn you the experience that a designer has built up over years of practice, so while it's certainly beneficial to be able to collaborate on design issues with an informed opinion, it's dangerous (and insulting) to suggest that you should take it upon yourself to make changes.
> Designing [...] is a set of rules, just like programming<p>I could agree with that, but I found design extremely unpleasant. For instance: it's almost impossible to vertically center a <div> inside its parent <div> in CSS without some obscure magical CSS-guru hacks which usually include creating wrapper <div>s. Why should I change my markup to adapt to browser's representation? Why can't I just <i>v-align: center</i> it?<p>Are those rules? Sure. But extremely frustrating rules... and that's only the technical part of design!<p>Don't get me wrong, designing is an awesome tool for your belt, but I found it extremely frustrating. Maybe I'm the one to blame for it?
I strongly disagree. Using Twitter bootstrap is OK. Copying other design is not OK.<p>Also, saying that design is a set of rules is like saying music or drawing is a set of rules. It's not. Design is a creative process. It's not about knowing how to use the right tools. Mastering Photoshop or Twitter Bootstrap doesn't mean you will successfully create a good looking design.
I know how to use a lot of design tools, but when I try to create a design everything looks like garbage.
If you're a coder, do yourself a good and hire a designer for your apps.
A better plan (if you want to minimise the amount you have pay designers - although, paying a designer is the best option) get them to go a base design/ style guide (and maybe a screen or two) then learn the grid rules and finish it off.<p>Grid and colour rules are easy. Design isn't. Although the same can be said for development.
I have a presentation that goes along with a talk I give to developers on understanding some simple techniques that they can use to contribute to design: <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/appsfire/anatomy-of-a-button-13406724" rel="nofollow">http://www.slideshare.net/appsfire/anatomy-of-a-button-13406...</a>
This presentation reminded me of this:<p>Sometimes it's better to hire a younger, less experienced developer, who's not aware yet, that "specialisation is good". Thanks to that you can have one dev who's able to finish the whole project. Obviously it's only true for smaller projects.
While I agree that learning about design is great for most developers, this is a pretty naive presentation. I could turn it around and say, "Designers, learn to code. It's not rocket science, it's a set of rules, just like design. Code doesn't have to be perfect, good enough is OK."
As a designer and coder I find this presentation a bit disturbing. It lacks of almost everything and it's mostly telling programmers to design as they wish. Design != style, it's more than that. Designed evolved so much these years that cannot be enclosed on a set of rules.
"You don't have to be a freaking Picasso to suggest color change"<p>Too bad they didn't chose a single color to use on their website: <a href="http://123ship.it/" rel="nofollow">http://123ship.it/</a>
"Design is not rocket science" - of course, it's quite the opposite of rocket science, it's art.<p>"It's set of rules" - no, rules are what you apply to design idea. I agree that everyone can learn to apply the rules, but for truly great design, you need to start with a good base.<p>The article is clearly about web design. In that part I agree with the author. However, to create something that looks really, really good, you need some talent as well. Unless he tells me he created his "123 ShipIt" logo himself ;)